Here's another beauty from Pink and this one has been circulating for years so it deserves full recognition for its determination.
The true story of the Chicken Gun.
Too funny not to share! Sometimes it does take a rocket scientist!
Scientists at NASA built a gun specifically to launch standard 4 pound dead chickens at the windshields of airliners, military jets and the space shuttle, all traveling at maximum velocity. The idea is to simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl to test the strength of the 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 window, 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)
Zen Yogi: that's a riot, Silas!
It might even be funnier if it were true, Brer Bear.
Zen Yogi: it's a hoax?
What did I teach you about anything which insists so hard it's true?
Zen Yogi: of course, that means it's probably complete bullshit. I remember now.
Zen Yogi: what about the picture for the proof, Silas?
I added that resource treasure but it has nothing to do with the report since that's an American F-35.
Zen Yogi: who cares about birds when an F-35 will fall apart sitting on the runway?
Someone sure made a mess of one on that windshield.
Zen Yogi: I don't think I want to eat fried chicken anymore.
That at least one high profile group of chicken flingers has used frozen poultry in its cannonizations puts this legend’s punch line — and thus the legend itself — into the realm of lore, not that of reality. Clearly, it’s not all that intuitive to use thawed poultry in these tests. Just as clearly, firing a frosted pullet bullet at something to be impact-tested isn’t all that unreasonable an action to take.
The legend’s appeal lies in its aura of smug superiority that “we” are smarter than “them.” We, says the legend, would have known to use thawed birds. Moreover, when the other country screwed up, its engineers couldn’t figure out the error on their own. We thus earned even more of a mental pat on the back in that it was our engineers who had to explain the “obvious” to these brainless foreigners.
Barbara “chicken catch-a-story” Mikkelson
Snopes: Chicken Cannon
The true story of the Chicken Gun.
Too funny not to share! Sometimes it does take a rocket scientist!
Scientists at NASA built a gun specifically to launch standard 4 pound dead chickens at the windshields of airliners, military jets and the space shuttle, all traveling at maximum velocity. The idea is to simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl to test the strength of the 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 window, 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)
Zen Yogi: that's a riot, Silas!
It might even be funnier if it were true, Brer Bear.
Zen Yogi: it's a hoax?
What did I teach you about anything which insists so hard it's true?
Zen Yogi: of course, that means it's probably complete bullshit. I remember now.
Zen Yogi: what about the picture for the proof, Silas?
I added that resource treasure but it has nothing to do with the report since that's an American F-35.
Zen Yogi: who cares about birds when an F-35 will fall apart sitting on the runway?
Someone sure made a mess of one on that windshield.
Zen Yogi: I don't think I want to eat fried chicken anymore.
That at least one high profile group of chicken flingers has used frozen poultry in its cannonizations puts this legend’s punch line — and thus the legend itself — into the realm of lore, not that of reality. Clearly, it’s not all that intuitive to use thawed poultry in these tests. Just as clearly, firing a frosted pullet bullet at something to be impact-tested isn’t all that unreasonable an action to take.
The legend’s appeal lies in its aura of smug superiority that “we” are smarter than “them.” We, says the legend, would have known to use thawed birds. Moreover, when the other country screwed up, its engineers couldn’t figure out the error on their own. We thus earned even more of a mental pat on the back in that it was our engineers who had to explain the “obvious” to these brainless foreigners.
Barbara “chicken catch-a-story” Mikkelson
Snopes: Chicken Cannon
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