The Off Topic Topic

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

LOL - I guess you could just theme it to Taz and be done with it...

[Wil_i_am_not]

Taz's Super Scary Shit Inducing Death Machine anyone? 

[iwerks]

That Taiwanese Waterpark explosion sounds really bad. A second person has died and hundreds are injured. http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/01/asia/taiwan-water-park-explosion/

[pin142]

Initial report has video of the explosion. Surprising to see just how quickly the fire spreads.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/29/asia/taiwan-water-park-explosion/

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Have these people never set fire to flour out of a funnel before?

Clearly marked as flammable, and they shot fireworks out over the top of it.

 

Just stupid.

[jarvo_325]

Wow that looks intense, thoughts are with the injured.

[Gazza]

A Jet Rescue clone is being built in Turkey:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=67415&start=50

 

 

 

[iwerks]

According to Perth's Channel 9 News, Fiona Wood is going to Taiwan to help the victims of the water park explosion. Apparently, there are now three dead and 500 being treated for injuries.

https://www.facebook.com/9NewsPerth/timeline

[liz.wis]

I've had this show up in my Facebook feed a few times today - Slingshot ride at Mt Olympus, Wisconsin - rope snaps before launch.

http://www.startribune.com/cable-snaps-on-sling-shot-ride-in-dells/313204281/

 

 

 

 

[Gazza]

Just getting in first with "Typical Mt Olympus".

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

As I see it - the most likely time for the cord to snap is whilst you're on the launch pad - it's the time when the cord is under the most stress, as it is being stretched whilst holding the gondola on the ground... from the moment you're launched, the cord is placed under less stress than pre-launch, and is therefore extremely unlikely to break, if it didn't break pre-launch.

How many Rubber Bands can you stretch out to their fullest extend, and then have them break once you reduce the stretch?

Of course, over time things weaken and stress and eventually you're going to have a failure - but with the pre-launch strain-and-hold, that would be where my money is.

[Reanimated35]

What about when it's at the very top? Or does it not stretch that far up?

I would assume in order of likeliness to break: Bottom, pre-launch > Top on first launch > anywhere in the middle

[AllegroCrab]

What about when it's at the very top? Or does it not stretch that far up?

I would assume in order of likeliness to break: Bottom, pre-launch > Top on first launch > anywhere in the middle

Yeah, there's no way it could stretch more at the top more than it was already stretching at the bottom. If it is weak enough to snap at the top, it would have already snapped at the bottom before the launch.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

^yeah thats my line of thinking, but what Reanimated has saif as far as the order makes sense... but to expand AC's answer to Reanimated's question -

After launch, the cord accelerates the pod upwards. At some point (which is far lower than halfway up the tower) the cords are fully contracted and there is no further acceleration imparted onto the pod. The pod immediately begins decelerating with gravity, and the higher it goes, the slower it gets as the cord slowly dampens the speed of climb. Because of this, the pod does not stretch the cord anywhere near as much as it is at launch, as it is slowed by both gravity and the cord...

[Brad2912]

But if the initial pressure pre-launch was enough to disintegrate or fret part of the cord, the pressure from the next 'sling' at the upper most point could effectively snap it. 

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Absolutely - it's theoretically possible, but as I said before - extremely unlikely. When you consider the tension it is under pre-launch, if it doesn't break on the pad - it's not likely to break in the air. Has anyone EVER heard of one of these things snapping mid-way through the ride? or only on the ground?

Research:

Here's one 15 years ago. The story says either a cable has snapped, or a mechanism at the end of the cable failed and detached shortly after launch in this incident: http://www.rideaccidents.com/2000.html#jul21a

This one in 2001, where it says that one of the cords disengaged (wtf?): http://www.rideaccidents.com/2001.html#jul29b

This one - cable snapped before release: http://www.rideaccidents.com/2002.html#jun9

This one snapped midair also, although it specifically states that the line that snapped was steel wire rope, and not bungee cord (the video of the incident two days ago is clearly bungee cord): http://www.rideaccidents.com/2002.html#aug5

This one is a big oops - the operator launched the gondola before the loaders had secured the harnesses!: http://www.rideaccidents.com/2004.html#aug9

This one attributes the incident to a cable that connects the bungee cord to the cage failing after launch: http://www.rideaccidents.com/2005.html#jul24

This one just before release: http://www.rideaccidents.com/2006.html#may7

This one is a bit odd - the bystander says she saw the cord shred like confetti 'as it stretched' but seems the cage was released as it crashed into the tower 70 feet up... http://www.rideaccidents.com/2006.html#aug2b

Seems like a bit of a mixed bunch - but from what I can gather:

• specific failures of the bungee cord are almost certainly pre-launch.
• Slingshot type rides that use bungee cords that fail after launch are mostly attributed to a 'connection mechanism' or similar - ie - the actual bungee doesn't snap, but the device connecting it to the cage fails
• Post-launch failures specifically of the line that connects the cage to the tower appear to mostly be steel-wire-rope-and-spring type slingshots
• Although I haven't provided links to all 'slingshot type' accidents, the remaining ones were usually injuries to bystanders due to poor operation - ie: not the failure of a cord-related component. In two particular incidents - one operator was struck by the cage as he was not where he was supposed to be, and in the other incident, the operator was struck by the cage as he had failed to lock the cage into the launch mechanism properly, and it rolled backwards ontop of him when he commenced the pre-launch process.

[Theme Park Girl]

Shesh, attempted Movieworld again today, first day since QLD kids have gone back to school, and it's still crazy busy there... 90min wait for Scooby, 60min for the other coasters. People everywhere. 

One of the JL attendants claimed it would be a lot quieter after yesterday, despite WA kids still being on holidays for another week, but nope.... ended up just walking around and then leaving after an hour. 

Can't wait for the parks to go back to normal again so I can actually go on some of the rides ???

[AllegroCrab]

I was up just last week, I went to MW for 1 day, SW 1 day. I went back to MW for half a day after having a go at WnW, then another half day at MW the morning before leaving.

Crowds were a bit larger than I expected, but at least the parks felt alive. Having talked to a few people on various rides and in various queues, I met quite a lot from WA. I'm not sure if it was just luck of the draw, but certainly it would make sense if they were earlier in their holiday period.

[Zanstabar]

Crowds were a bit larger than I expected, but at least the parks felt alive. 

As much as I love walk-ons, nothing feels better than a park that feels alive.

[iwerks]

I see ABC News filmed a story about Queensland's shark nets at Sea World, today.

[Theme Park Girl]

Anyone been to any of the theme parks in the past couple of days? What are the crowds like? 

I have the weekend off work and am tempted to go to one of them, but don't really want to end up just walking around in circles again because of long queue-ups. Am hoping some of these holiday goers have started to head home by now!!!

Maybe I should just wait till next week when the school holidays are well and truly over ??? 

[downunder196]

I was at SW, MW and DW on Wednesday and the rides at SW were walk ons, MW still had lines up to an hour but were still better than previous weeks, and DW had shorter lines also (some were around 30 minutes but not much more). Heaps of people are up here from down south.

[iwerks]

Just watching the original coverage of Disneyland's opening ceremony.  The meet and greet characters look downright scary.

I loved the fact that Tomorrowland was set in 1986, 'when a rocket trip to the moon is an everyday occurrence.'

http://pictorial.jezebel.com/disneyland-opened-its-doors-to-hysterical-kids-sixty-ye-1718259002

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Not such an unlikely situation if you consider where the space program was up to in the 50s, and what they had achieved by 1970... if they hadn't canned the space program for other priorities, i'm sure regular trips to the moon would have occurred by then.

[Wil_i_am_not]

I'm sure that will be a thing in the future, with the people going to mars to live soon. I reckon it will be a possibility once we can lower down the cost of space travel.