Engineers and Common Sense

[ricky racer]

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 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."

[RUSSALL]

You're on a roll tonight Rick.


Russ

[bob in CT]

I heard a variant of this decades ago, I think from an engineer at Pratt & Whitney. Lo and behold it made it to Snopes! http://www.snopes.com/science/cannon.asp

[beaconlight]

Rick you are on a roll.

[BIGHOSS]

A medical doctor, a preacher, a millionaire and an engineer were playing a round of golf. The foursome playing just ahead of them were not only delaying them, but all of the rest of the gallery was getting way behind. They watched the slow foursome play awhile and found out they were terrible golfers. An official of the club came by just then, so they asked him "what is the deal with the awful players. He replied "don't you remember when our clubhouse caught fire last year; those guys were members of the fire dept that put out the fire and saved out clubhouse" "Unfortunately, all four of them lost their eyesight while fighting the blaze". In order to show our gratitude, we allow them to play golf free any time they want".

The medical doctor said "wow, I am going to call a friend of mine who specializes in this type injury to see if he can help them. The preacher said he was going to call upon the Lord and ask to heal them. The millionaire said he would set up a trust fund to cover their medical expenses. The engineer said Why don't you make them play at night?