[ExI] NBIC/GRIN Elements as Philosopher's Magnum Opus

[Eugen Leitl]

On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 11:14:01AM -0400, Dave Sill wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 11:26 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> >
> > Having misspent my youth in Florida, I not only missed out on owning a sled,
> > I had never even seen one until I was 19 yrs old.  However I did wax my
> > surfboard, which would be an example of a solid which acts as a lubricant
> > against a liquid.
> 
> Hmm. I row competitively and it's fairly common knowledge that waxing
> boats doesn't make them faster. I googled surfboard waxing and

But aren't you supposed to wax the Moon? Or was it rhapsody? I forget.

> everything I found says it's done to the deck to make it less
> slippery. E.g.:
> 
> http://www.surfinghandbook.com/knowledge/beginners-surfing-tips/surf-wax/
> 
>   Surf wax is for the deck of the board, and keeps you from slipping
> off. It’s hilarious to watch surfing newbies take their shining new
> board straight from the shop to the beach and try to surf with no wax.
> What are they thinking!? I’ve also heard stories of people waxing the
> underside of their board. I don’t know how people get this idea. Maybe
> they think the wax is supposed to help the board glide on the water.
> 
> I'm not a hydrodynamicist, but I think that in order to reduce surface
> friction you need some kind of physical texturing like the "shark
> skin" bathing suits that have been outlawed in competition.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
______________________________________________________________
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org
8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A  7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE