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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Adam Getchell <acgetche@****.UCDAVIS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Classical Aerodynamics
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 10:06:55 -0700
On Thu, 28 Jul 1994, Hamish Laws wrote:

> According to classical aerodynamics it is impossible for a
> bumblebee to fly. This has never stopped them doing so and classical
> aerodynamics was based on repeated measurements and worked within most
> circumstances.

I have heard this one so many times, and it is patently not true.
The aerodynamic models that determined that a bumble bee couldn't
fly were based on frontal area and drag coefficients versus power
generated by the bumblebee's wing-flapping.
When the investigators looked closer at the bumblebee, they
figured that all the hairs and wing membraneous structures enhanced lift
by inducing a turbulent boundary layer flow, just like the dimples in a
golf ball. When _this_ was taken into account, not surprisingly the
bumblebee could fly.
But such is how rumors and urban legends are started.

> Hamish Laws


+-------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
|Adam Getchell|acgetche@****.engr.ucdavis.edu | ez000270@*******.ucdavis.edu |
| acgetchell |"Invincibility is in oneself, vulnerability is in the opponent"|
+-------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Message no. 2
From: Hamish Laws <h_laws@**********.UTAS.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: Classical Aerodynamics
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 17:31:22 +1000
Adam Getchall writes
>On Thu, 28 Jul 1994, Hamish Laws wrote:
>
SNIP
>
> I have heard this one so many times, and it is patently not true.
> The aerodynamic models that determined that a bumble bee couldn't
>fly were based on frontal area and drag coefficients versus power
>generated by the bumblebee's wing-flapping.
> When the investigators looked closer at the bumblebee, they
>figured that all the hairs and wing membraneous structures enhanced lift
>by inducing a turbulent boundary layer flow, just like the dimples in a
>golf ball. When _this_ was taken into account, not surprisingly the
>bumblebee could fly.

My original posting was conerning what I believe to be the unlikely
theory that magical knowledge would be passed down accurately during a
period of low magic. You have, in fact, strengthed my argument as, if there
had not been bumblebees around then people would not have gone back and
added extra factors in.
Comparing this to magical tradition, it's not working so it will
change through time, there is no way of checking whether it works or not so
people assume that it will work and pass on the altered version. Who's sat
in a circle and passed around a message by wispering it in the next
person's ear? Has it ever made it around without being garbeled?
Now try mimicing someone else's gestures and get someone else to
mimic your effort and continue a few times. Now have a look at the final
gesture and compare it to the original.
Think how much magical knowledge would have been lost/distorted
over a few millenia.

BTW I don't have the modules where they appear or the Grimoire yet
but what can insect Shamans do with Wasps and Bees??


*************************************************
There has to be an optimist around here somewhere
*************************************************

Hamish Laws

Further Reading

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Thwap!