Music helps small planes fly better:
Mr Salmon said engineers had known since the 1940s that blasting a plane's wings with sound helped keep air flowing over the wings. The concept had been demonstrated by placing speakers in a wind tunnel and bombarding model planes with noise.
However, Mr Salmon conceded yesterday, building giant speakers at airports was not only impracticable, it would anger local residents who are already annoyed by aircraft noise.
Instead, he has successfully experimented with covering the upper surface of an aircraft wing with thin film-like panels linked to wires. When the wires are electrified, the panels vibrate 400 times a second, producing an audible buzz.
In wind-tunnel tests at the University of NSW, "singing wings" were able to "fly" at much steeper angles - up to 22 degrees above the horizontal, compared with the normal maximum of about 17 degrees.
In his research, which is part of his aerospace engineer degree at the university, he even pumped music through his wing speakers, looking at how well the hard-rock Australian group Spiderbait made a plane fly, compared with the ethereal British band Radiohead.
"All we can say is that Spiderbait performs better than Radiohead," said Mr Salmon.
Teppy, are you feeling better?
I just took a very long nap. I haven't slept well for a few days, so I think I needed it, but now I am very gronky.
I made some very yummy homemade mac&cheese for dinner. also scrubed the shower and organized a bunch of papers that have been cluttering up my desk.
I think my steam is running out though, I think I might change the sheets on the bed and then settle in front of the tv for the rest of the night.
oh, and ita, weren't you asking about bathroom cleaners? the stuff I use on my glass shower door is called Earth Friendly Products Window Kleener with vinegar and it does a great job.
I ate some more of the carnitas urupan I got from the mexican restaurant last night. I swear, their entrees (for $12!!) are two dinners and a lunch's worth. Tonight, I mixed the pork, mexican rice and beans (omigawd, they are good and earth tasting pintos) together, since I used up the tortillas, guac, sour cream, lettuce and salsa fresca (with cilantro!) last night.
Apartment is clean, if I still need to go through stuff to toss. The surfaces are clean, at least.
Just got back from a wedding on the beach a few miles north of Malibu. Very nice and relaxed and homemade--the bride's sister made the cake and other family members made fajitas. The groom's two sons from his first marriage were ringbearers. Before the ceremony, we saw some dolphins romping about and a seal popped his head out of the water VERY close to shore and looked around in a bemused way before swimming away. Now we're both exhausted. The BF is asleep in his chair and I can barely keep my eyes open. A day in the sun knocks me right out.
I like the sleepy the sun induces. It's so lazy and slow and relaxed.
I was just thinking the same thing, sarameg, as long as I don't get sunburned.
msbelle, I ended up buying OxiClean Miracle Foam. Works *much* better than anything else I'd used, even though I think I'll 409 it afterwards as a matter of course.
