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gfish ([personal profile] gfish) wrote2005-08-29 02:43 am
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Back Again

We have returned safely from the Columbia trip. Details and pictures later, but I can tell you that we decided the Greeks had it all wrong. The four elements are really steel, steam, aerogel and pykrete. Everything is made of various proportions of them, and anything that includes all four is, by definition, completely awesome.

Also, now that I have caught up with the news, OMGWTFNAWLINS??!?! This is what I get for being out of touch for 3 days. A major city is slated for destruction. Totally apocalyptic. I think I know where the next canoe trip will have to be.
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[identity profile] rowtree.livejournal.com 2005-08-29 02:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Aerogel and pykrete...Yum!

Ode to aerogel

[identity profile] gement.livejournal.com 2005-08-29 02:55 pm (UTC)(link)
When I was working in the geophysics lab, we got a 2x2x6cm chunk of Aerogel as an unsolicited promotional sample.

We took turns marvelling at how finger moisture makes it sizzle but you can hold one end and blowtorch the other without feeling any heat, or even significantly melting the blowtorch end.

Also, I find its density and optical properties a bit hypnotic.

[identity profile] xmurf.livejournal.com 2005-08-29 06:27 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm highly annoyed; I was hoping to visit New Orleans when we're in Houston again...

[identity profile] gfish.livejournal.com 2005-08-29 07:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, it isn't looking nearly as dire now. I was hoping to go again as well -- would be nice to see it during the day this time.
ivy: (polite raven)

[personal profile] ivy 2005-08-29 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Any time you want company! It's the US city that's not Seattle that I'm still totally in love with. I can recommend many, many worthwhile things to do there.

[identity profile] gfish.livejournal.com 2005-08-29 09:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I'd love recommendations. [livejournal.com profile] corivax and I drove over our last night in Houston during the last space robot campaign. It was a very striking city, but we were only there for a few hours in the middle of the night. (And most of that time was spent driving in circles, completely lost.) We're going to make an expedition a priority this year and actually spend some real time there.
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