Seeking recourse to jellyfish as a source of inspiration for powering gas-filled balloons is an obvious thought; after all, a jellyfish consists of water to 99%. Its weight-to-volume ratio is approximately 1, and the figure is similar for a gas-filled balloon. Jellyfish fossil finds indicate an ability to survive dating back more than 500 million years. Jellyfish have thus repeatedly adapted to various environmental and living conditions and have become veritable survival artists; the diversity of jellyfish species suggests a high degree of adaptability. (Festo – AirJelly)
About
Jeff Watson is an artist, designer, and Assistant Professor of Interactive Media and Games at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.
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Courtesy of the inimitable Stabler, I not long ago discovered one’s political views on phacebök are now up for grabs. Such largesse! So I quickly plugged in a quote from something I’d just been reading:
“To become a great and independent industrial power, France must manufacture machine tools.”
This was actually Maurice Thorez, head of the French Communist party in 1945. Sort of shows how everybody in post-Liberation France was singing from the same productivist hymnal. Anyway, I just tried to change my politics to,
“Seeking recourse to jellyfish as a source of inspiration for powering gas-filled balloons is an obvious thought.”
But it was too long. So I made it my status update instead! Right now I’m reading about the social implications of the enclosure movement:
57-8 enclosure: “an activity…packed with social consequence”, as with the commercialization of the grain trade (and this ≠ Tudor policy where grain production and distribution embedded in society) “the enclosing of common fields altered the bond between subject and society.”
But, after a quick whizz, I’m gonna boot up that jellyfish vid. As you know, I’ve long been a fan of a good jellyfish viv, gas-powered or otherwise. xo (the inimitable) didactique
ok ok enough hassle on my use of the inimitable inimitable…
but you’re going to love the jelly, i know it. and it is, agreed, something of an obvious idea. it seems everyone’s got their own autonomous lighter than air robotics project these days…