High School Student Launches a Trash Bag Aircraft 103
An anonymous reader writes with a great write-up of a project completed last month by Manuja Gunaratne: "A high school student at Advanced Technologies Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada managed to launch an aircraft using trash bags. The trash bag aircraft traveled for hundreds of miles and rose to thousands of feet while capturing thousands of images of the Earth. The trash bag craft consisted of household equipment and only cost $50."
Yay! (Score:4, Insightful)
More helium stocks depleted!
Re:slow news day eh? (Score:1, Insightful)
Don't see you doing it.
A high-schooler is thinking outside the box, yet you come along and just crap over it because it isn't anything new.
Seems a little childish.
Re:Yay! (Score:5, Insightful)
More helium stocks depleted!
Don't blame the kid that bought the Helium, blame the helium repositories that don't price it as the scarce resource that it is. If a 244 ft^3 tank cost $1000 instead of $100, then maybe there would be less waste.
Folk like you are the reason the USA is screwed... (Score:4, Insightful)
Slashdot posts an article on some kid flying a balloon and gps and camera for 50 dollars, he's worked out to do it with a couple of people and a bit of research. Slashdot posters moan about how crap the balloon is. You are guys are the reason the USA is screwed in the long term - loads of people moaning when a 17 year old or so kid pushes himself and gets something like this happening? A better place would have praised the kid, I think it's great teenagers are trying to come up with technological hacks that are new to them and dreaming great goals.
A better audience, had it had any reservations, would offer kind and politely worded guidance to help him keeping creating but in a better and informed way. Instead - bitchy comments from a good number of people who are too scared to use a slashdot identity.
If you're a representative sample of how Americans respond to teenagers trying to push their technical knowledge, I reckon the USA is screwed... stamping on 17 year olds trying to be innovative and push themselves is no way to encourage your future generations. So he didn't achieve a PhD level of novel research? he didn't do something worthy of a Nobel prize? Who cares?! this might be the spark that gets him to those heights ten years down the line. He pushed himself, he wrote it up nicely, he was brave enough to publish to the world and allow comments. What were you doing when you were 17? he deserves encouragement, not scorn. Shame on you.