But only at fixed speed

Haven't we had this discussion many, many times already?

Let me recap: human brain is too stupid to drive flying cars!

SirEattonHogg: Haven't we had this discussion many, many times already?

Let me recap: human brain is too stupid to drive flying cars!

So let computers do it.

It's the 80s; where's our rocket packs?

Possibly coincidently, last week there was yet another "news story" on the impending release of the flying car.

Doing the math, if those are 20" wheels, and they look like they are, you'd have to go 1.983 mph to play an LP, 2.677 mph to play a 45 and 4.641 mph to play a 78.

The entirety of Sgt. Pepper would carry you less than 7,000 feet, and you'd have to flip sides in the middle.

This is great news! Now I can listen to bands you never heard of while I disobey common traffic laws on my fixie.

Oh, and don't even THINK of getting pissed at me, because I will be all over this thread explaining how I will fark up your car with my shoes.

That's great and all, but where the fark is my jetpack? (new window)

Well, on the bright side... anytime I ever procrastinate or waste time on something stupid in the future, I can think of these people, building this dumbass bike, and consider my goofing off as time well spent.

Oh, "Makers", you're so precious.

crab66 Quote 2011-10-23 06:36:39 AM
SirEattonHogg: Haven't we had this discussion many, many times already?

Let me recap: human brain is too stupid to drive flying cars!

So let computers do it.

We covered that already. We're not there yet. Well, not atleast where the family can pile into the flying car and take it to the supermarket. And that computer better be infallible because most people cant operate in 3 dimensions in terms of day to day transportation. Think of the day to day accidents just with your nornal car.

Maybe only for military and law enforcement, say within a decade. Just a wild guess...

So, what video did the author of the article watch? Because it only operates as an installation object at a small art gallery, while still functioning as a regular bicycles that doesn't play records. At no point was the record played when the bicycle was used for transportation.

I've never really had a particular feeling toward hipsters. Didn't like them, didn't hate them.

I now hate hipsters.

On the positive side, we don't need umbrellas made from steel sheets when we go out.

crab66: SirEattonHogg: Haven't we had this discussion many, many times already?

Let me recap: human brain is too stupid to drive flying cars!

So let computers do it.

Everyone relax. We still have ~7 years to mass produce the flying car.

That one young lady in the video was quite fetching in my opinion.

Finally! A purpose for those freebie LPs I get from people encrusted with mold that I won't play on my turntable! They do make interesting projectiles, though. Watch out for the kids' swing set...POW! (shards of vinyl scatter)

obvious

doglover: What's a vinyl record? Is it like an mp3?

It's the format that's replacing the CD.

SirEattonHogg: Haven't we had this discussion many, many times already?

Let me recap: human brain is too stupid to drive flying cars!

Wise words other Sir Eatton. We already have people crashing into/killing each other all day everyday terrestrially with cars, putting them up over cities en masse sounds like a good way to kill people below along with them.

Our incredibly technologically advanced phones would do to blow everyones mind back in the era that pined for airborne vehicles. If you told me in 1990 that everyone carried their own personal phone on them in their pocket, that not only made calls but "streams" hundreds of radio stations of any variety you imagine, television shows right at your fingertips, and whole full length movies. Imagine how the 1990s male would react to knowing he could carry several full length porn videos around with in his back pocket with nobody the wiser. Also, the internet.

/Would be odd to explain the concept of the internet to people a decade or two before it grew to its current importance

Really, really tempted to post the pic with the guy on a motorbike with a megaphone embedded between his cheeks, but I got banninated last time so I'll pass on this occasion.

SirEattonHogg: We covered that already. We're not there yet.

Computers are easily there. Flight avionics developed two or three decades ago were mostly there. It's easier to program a flying car than it is a driving one- there are no sudden obstacles in the air (unless something's gone terribly wrong).

The reason you aren't going to get a flying car is because the idea is stupid. A steady downward acceleration of 9.8m/s is going to require an upward force proportional to the mass of the vehicle. For a 1,500kg vehicle (the mass of an average car with an average load), that's not insignificant. You either need lift or thrust, both of which require a heck of a lot more energy than simply rolling along the ground.

There's a reason ultralights are the domain of hobbyists and have very tight weight constraints. It just doesn't work from a physics standpoint.

SirEattonHogg: Maybe only for military and law enforcement, say within a decade.

We already have those. They're called "helicopters". You'll notice that they're impractically expensive to operate as a means of transport unless you have a lot of cash to spare.

yarnothuntin: This is great news! Now I can listen to bands you never heard of while I disobey common traffic laws on my fixie.

Oh, and don't even THINK of getting pissed at me, because I will be all over this thread explaining how I will fark up your car with my shoes.

We'll nickname it the Hipsfixercyce!

Obligatory :
FARK MOELLER's SCAMCAR

t3knomanser: Computers are easily there. Flight avionics developed two or three decades ago were mostly there. It's easier to program a flying car than it is a driving one- there are no sudden obstacles in the air (unless something's gone terribly wrong).

In the air, cruising, yes. When you have a mandated mile separation between vehicles, and the 'parking lots' are 50 miles apart, it is not so hard.

But when you try to take that vehicle to the store, and you have to land with 6" precision in a variable 20mph crosswind...the parking lot at Walmart is going to have to be a LOT bigger.

Add to that the mechanical incompatibilities. In the air, why should you haul around 800lbs of roadworthy suspension?
On the ground, where do you put the wings?

Ow My Balls: Finally! A purpose for those freebie LPs I get from people encrusted with mold that I won't play on my turntable! They do make interesting projectiles, though. Watch out for the kids' swing set...POW! (shards of vinyl scatter)

You can make flower pots out of them. Just put them in the over for a short while, take them out when soft and would them with your hands. Wear gloves.

Used to do it with 78's.

YouPeopleAreCrazy: On the ground, where do you put the wings?

You fold them up like this (new window).

summersa74: That's great and all, but where the fark is my jetpack? (new window)

You just Rickrolled me with coontry music you corksucker.

I'm a Farker of many years, and it still surprises me to see a nifty idea both lost to a threadjack and denigrated because of "hipster" associations. Maybe it's because in 30 posts, no one managed to say "That's neat!"

I'll say it. That's neat! It immediately struck me as an idea that should have happened long ago, it's so simple.

/my work is done here
//go back to arguing hipstfarker-style over micro-brew beers

We do have flying cars. They're called planes. We've had them for a while now, in fact.

Thraeryn: That's neat! It immediately struck me as an idea that should have happened long ago, it's so simple.

It would be neat, if this were 1911 and not 2011.

t3knomanser: Thraeryn: That's neat! It immediately struck me as an idea that should have happened long ago, it's so simple.

It would be neat, if this were 1911 and not 2011.

KISS didn't release any albums in 1911. NOT USEFUL

The incredibly brief part of the video that isn't self-serving setup begins about 30 seconds in. That's the part that shows that if you take a stationary bicycle, you can set it up to turn a vinyl record, to play it.

That's worth about five seconds of amusement, which is all they show. The rest of the video is... hell, I don't know. A bunch of people moving a bicycle into an arts space.

Assuming it took you less than a minute to read this post, I've just saved you a few seconds of your life.

D_Evans45: /Would be odd to explain the concept of the internet to people a decade or two before it grew to its current importance



Seriously though, some past authors came fairly close to many of our modern concepts.

Paris in the Twentieth Century by Jules Verne (1863)

The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster (1909)

As We May Think by Vannevar Bush (1945)

As for:
If you told me in 1990 that everyone carried their own personal phone on them in their pocket, that not only made calls but "streams" hundreds of radio stations of any variety you imagine, television shows right at your fingertips, and whole full length movies. Imagine how the 1990s male would react to knowing he could carry several full length porn videos around with in his back pocket with nobody the wiser.

The first parts would be cool, but not too surprising. Portable radios and televisions were common, cellular phones existed, and we had all seen the Dick Tracy comics with the two-way wrist radio / TV. The only part that would have really impressed me is the storage density, that I could fit those videos onto a tiny chip in my pocket instead of receiving a broadcast. I still have a hard time believing that a microSD card can really hold 32 GB.

Why?

Meh. My grandpa delivered Brunswick phonos and records on a bike in 1920. I doubt he played them while moving, though, as the multi-pound tonearm and steel needle would fark the grooves in a hurry.

The way some people drive I hate to see them flying a car, Farmers markets would need AA batteries to prevent the geezer Kamikaze's

martin jetpack
terrafugia
cartercopter

now shut the hell up

4 More years.... 4 more years..........