12.1.12

Pay It Forward: NASA and the Chicken

So many poultry panoplies, so little time.

Grandma Scotty sent his little tidbit. No idea as to original author; story's been floating around for a decade.

Anyway, seems scientists at NASA built a gun, once upon a time, specifically to launch standard four pound dead chickens at the windshields of airliners, military jets and the space shuttle, all traveling at maximum velocity, and often without asking the chickens' permission. The idea was to simulate the frequent incidents of aviation collisions with airborne fowl to test the strength of aircraft windshields.

British engineers heard about the gun and were eager to test it on the windshields of their new high speed trains. Arrangements were made, and a gun was sent to the British engineers. When the gun was fired, the engineers stood shocked as the chicken hurled out of the barrel, crashed into the shatterproof shield, smashed it to smithereens, blasted through the control console, snapped the engineer's back-rest in two, and embedded itself in the back wall of the cabin, like an arrow shot from a bow.

The horrified Brits sent NASA the disastrous results of the experiment, along with the designs of the windshield and begged the U.S. scientists for suggestions.

NASA responded with a one-line memo, "Defrost the chicken." (True story)

Defrosting doesn't have to be an ordeal for the chicken.

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...