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NASA's Successful Quantifying of Comedy Timing (By Penn Jillette and Teller)

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Re: NASA's Successful Quantifying of Comedy Timing (By Penn Jillette and Teller)

#21

Post by VladRussian »

toast76 wrote: post #14
peterwwillis wrote: post #10

tl;dr "The NASA definition of comedy timing is the difference between the speed of light and the speed of sound over a distance of 3.7 miles. The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second (I knew that off the top of my head). The speed of sound is 1,116 feet per second (I had to look that up). With the two traveling over 3.7 miles that’s 17.505 seconds."

"we call it 'the aristocrats'!" See...doesn't have the same impact when you just tell the punch line. The piece which was tl;dr for you was one of the most uplifting and inspiring stories I've ever read about watching a Shuttle launch, and you want distil it down to a punch line? Talk about missing the point!

>"we call it 'the aristocrats'!"

thanks man. Couldn't read more than the 1/3 of the blog - it's just too boring. After your post, googled 'the aristocrats' [and enjoyed it] - you hit it right on the nail. Best tldr ever.

Re: NASA's Successful Quantifying of Comedy Timing (By Penn Jillette and Teller)

#22

Post by blhack »

TravisLS wrote: post #3

I'll always regret not seeing a shuttle launch. I went once and it was cancelled due to poor weather. Hopefully NASA will replace it with something equally spectacular, or perhaps I'll just have to wait and enjoy a private launch (from on-board).

There's something unquantifiable about the shuttle, though.

Downvote me for this, because it's offtopic, and silly, but seeing the shuttle perched up there with those huge tanks of fuel strapped to it's chest reminds me of my dog when I come home from work.

She just looks excited. The rockets don't. They don't have as much personality.

Every time I see the shuttle, it looks like it's happy, and it's excited to be going to space. The rockets just look like hammers.

Actually, it kindof does look like a dog's nose: http://www.enstoneflyingclubblog.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/20...

Re: NASA's Successful Quantifying of Comedy Timing (By Penn Jillette and Teller)

#23

Post by Hoff »

drgath wrote: post #18
TravisLS wrote: post #3

I'll always regret not seeing a shuttle launch. I went once and it was cancelled due to poor weather. Hopefully NASA will replace it with something equally spectacular, or perhaps I'll just have to wait and enjoy a private launch (from on-board).

I was on the checkout page to book a flight for the last launch, then ultimately decided not to. I'd been wanting to see a Shuttle launch since I was a kid, but I realized we're going to have a lot more launches. Sure they won't be shuttles, but I'll be able to look at that launch and say "That's the rocket that is taking people to Mars." Not "That's the rocket that is going to take a shipment of astronaut ice cream…

"However, the Constellation program, including Ares V was canceled in October 2010 by the passage of the 2010 NASA authorization bill."

Re: NASA's Successful Quantifying of Comedy Timing (By Penn Jillette and Teller)

#24

Post by rglover »

I recall a family vacation when I was younger, driving down the Florida coast; my dad screaming (not a bad scream, but a hurried, excited, educated scream). He kept asking my brother and I in the back seat if we wanted to see the astronauts go into space. Circa 12 years old, you fucking bet we did. We tried to find a good spot, but unfortunately, weren't able to (the launch was also cancelled that day for a reason I can't remember).

I'm fairly happy to know that my parents tried to show this to my brother and I. After reading this account, I can say that at some point in my life, I'd like to see humans going into space.

It may be cheesy, but this just set a wonderful tone for my weekend.

Re: NASA's Successful Quantifying of Comedy Timing (By Penn Jillette and Teller)

#25

Post by pyre »

aidenn0 wrote: post #20
TravisLS wrote: post #3

I'll always regret not seeing a shuttle launch. I went once and it was cancelled due to poor weather. Hopefully NASA will replace it with something equally spectacular, or perhaps I'll just have to wait and enjoy a private launch (from on-board).

I went once; my grandfather had gotten VIP passes. It was January 1986.

If 'January 1986' is meant to refer to Challenger, keep in mind that Columbia was launched Jan 12 1986[1], and Challenger was launched Jan 28, 1986[2].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-61-C

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-51-L

Re: NASA's Successful Quantifying of Comedy Timing (By Penn Jillette and Teller)

#27

Post by drinian »

I think government needs to use tax money for “police, courts, and defense” and that’s it. If I were king of the world, there wouldn’t be a king of the world and NASA would be private. But who cares what I think? We have NASA and they do the coolest things. It can’t be justified with Tang and Crazy Glue. Exploration of space is worth it because humans need to explore.

Cognitive dissonance much?

Re: NASA's Successful Quantifying of Comedy Timing (By Penn Jillette and Teller)

#28

Post by spullara »

I took my 5 year old daughter to STS-132. Tried to get tickets to it on the website and failed to ever get in. Bought 2 tickets for the closest (non-VIP) public viewing area with no parking and 2 tickets + parking for the second closest off eBay. Ended up getting to invite my Dad and his cousin to view from there. It takes a patient 5 year old to get through a hot day and wait hours to watch a 5 minute event. She made it though without even much fuss. Thankfully, it went off just 30 minutes late due to a screw they found rolling around in the cargo bay. When it finally did launch, she was ecstatic and loudly proclaimed: "It is building a pile of steam!" http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=32354567%40N00&q=sts&#38...

Re: NASA's Successful Quantifying of Comedy Timing (By Penn Jillette and Teller)

#29

Post by nkassis »

drinian wrote: post #27

I think government needs to use tax money for “police, courts, and defense” and that’s it. If I were king of the world, there wouldn’t be a king of the world and NASA would be private. But who cares what I think? We have NASA and they do the coolest things. It can’t be justified with Tang and Crazy Glue. Exploration of space is worth it because humans need to explore. Cognitive dissonance much?

I was thinking the same thing. To help him out NASA could be called defense spendings (alien invasion ;p) and there is also DARPA the two most useful agencies I know off both had an impact on space exploration.

Re: NASA's Successful Quantifying of Comedy Timing (By Penn Jillette and Teller)

#30

Post by tomlin »

nkassis wrote: post #29
drinian wrote: post #27

I think government needs to use tax money for “police, courts, and defense” and that’s it. If I were king of the world, there wouldn’t be a king of the world and NASA would be private. But who cares what I think? We have NASA and they do the coolest things. It can’t be justified with Tang and Crazy Glue. Exploration of space is worth it because humans need to explore. Cognitive dissonance much?

I was thinking the same thing. To help him out NASA could be called defense spendings (alien invasion ;p) and there is also DARPA the two most useful agencies I know off both had an impact on space exploration.

I just went to see P&T a few days ago. Always loved their show and their insight as it definitely makes me think.

For a while, I considered myself a Libertarian, but there were too many conflicts with my own sensibilities (gun control, regulation, etc). I just couldn't ignore the obvious lapse in judgement to make the Libertarian model work.

I still respect P&T, but after listening to Penn rant about de-regulation of markets (Libertarian viewpoint), then seeing it happen (and fall apart), I couldn't continue the one-size-fits-all thought process.

Penn became more quiet about the subject than his tight-lipped partner, Teller. Cognitive dissonance indeed.

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