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Aaron Cake
Administrator
Canada
6718 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 20 2009 : 09:36:09 AM
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..screaming at the top of my lungs everytime I heard about the Colorado kid in the balloon that there was no way a Helium balloon that size could lift a kid?
All weekend I had to listen to idiot reporters parroting the same ridiculous information. No one, not the police, the military, the reporters, the FAA, anyone, seemed to realize that a balloon that size could not lift a 40 pound child.
Trivial grade 2 science says that at sea level, it takes 1 cubic metre of Helium to lift 1 KG of weight, so clearly the balloon is about 10 times too small to lift a 18 KG child.
Hell, even Daily Planet on Discover Channel covered the story but made no mention about how it's basic premise was impossible.
If the knowledge level on this planet of such basic science (or is that common sense?) is so low, then the Earth is indeed doomed. |
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pebe
Nobel Prize Winner
United Kingdom
1078 Posts |
Posted - Oct 20 2009 : 10:01:31 AM
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Like someone once said "Common sense is not so common".
But I know a lot of intelligent people with plenty of common sense who would not know of the properties of helium. It's in the realms of science (physics when I was at school) rather than common sense. |
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wasssup1990
Nobel Prize Winner
A Land Down Under
2261 Posts |
Posted - Oct 20 2009 : 12:03:00 PM
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Yep, we're getting the same news over here. I just looked at that balloon and thought to myself "What? There's no way a kid could be floating in that little balloon." I thought this simply because I have held several helium balloons in my life and I could easily guesstimate the large amount of balloons that would be needed to pick up a kid. Oh yes, I have picked up many kids too. Hell, I don't even know how much the average kid weighs these days. My point is, life experience is what creates common sense... It doesn't just come to you. Hehe, this point probably is common sense. Oh crap look at the time 3:00AM! Packing up my project and going to bed. Later guys!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fWzXNhfoQ8 |
When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity.
When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion. |
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Aaron Cake
Administrator
Canada
6718 Posts |
Posted - Oct 21 2009 : 10:25:41 AM
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I guess the lifting capacity of Helium isn't really common knowledge, but almost everyone has played with a Helium balloon in the past and has a general idea of how weak they are. I pride myself as being a natural skeptic and one that applies critical thinking to every situation, so as soon as I saw the balloon I thought to myself "That doesn't look big enough". Common sense said that it was too small, so I looked up the lifting capacity of Helium and made a quick calculation showing exactly how large it would have had to be.
What shocks me is that no one else seems to have done this. Not a single reporter ever bothered to type "lifting capacity of helium" into Google. It was not until Sunday night that I heard a report saying that "The balloon may have been too small to lift the child". MAY?!?! |
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Yerboogieman
Nobel Prize Winner
USA
577 Posts |
Posted - Oct 21 2009 : 1:05:53 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Aaron Cake
..screaming at the top of my lungs everytime I heard about the Colorado kid in the balloon that there was no way a Helium balloon that size could lift a kid?
All weekend I had to listen to idiot reporters parroting the same ridiculous information. No one, not the police, the military, the reporters, the FAA, anyone, seemed to realize that a balloon that size could not lift a 40 pound child.
Trivial grade 2 science says that at sea level, it takes 1 cubic metre of Helium to lift 1 KG of weight, so clearly the balloon is about 10 times too small to lift a 18 KG child.
Hell, even Daily Planet on Discover Channel covered the story but made no mention about how it's basic premise was impossible.
If the knowledge level on this planet of such basic science (or is that common sense?) is so low, then the Earth is indeed doomed.
That's what i was saying!! |
If you don't have the time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over? |
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pebe
Nobel Prize Winner
United Kingdom
1078 Posts |
Posted - Oct 21 2009 : 3:25:32 PM
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But a modern reporter's job seems to be creating stories - not killing them - and the more outrageous the better.
Objective stories don't sell newspapers. |
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wasssup1990
Nobel Prize Winner
A Land Down Under
2261 Posts |
Posted - Oct 21 2009 : 9:38:51 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by pebe
But a modern reporter's job seems to be creating stories - not killing them - and the more outrageous the better.
Objective stories don't sell newspapers.
I wonder how many people actually know this. Obviously not many... If it sells. |
When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity.
When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion. |
Edited by - wasssup1990 on Oct 21 2009 9:39:25 PM |
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Aaron Cake
Administrator
Canada
6718 Posts |
Posted - Oct 22 2009 : 09:38:48 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by pebe
But a modern reporter's job seems to be creating stories - not killing them - and the more outrageous the better.
I thought that was just on Fox?
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wasssup1990
Nobel Prize Winner
A Land Down Under
2261 Posts |
Posted - Oct 22 2009 : 09:52:23 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Aaron Cake
Exactly. |
When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity.
When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion. |
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Was I the only one this past weekend...
