

NASA's Successful Quantifying of Comedy Timing (By Penn Jillette and Teller) - wallflower
http://symftr.tumblr.com/post/5987695109/nasas-successful-quantifying-of-comedy-timing-by-penn

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TravisLS
I'll always regret not seeing a shuttle launch. I went once and it was
cancelled due to poor weather.

Hopefully NASA will replace it with something equally spectacular, or perhaps
I'll just have to wait and enjoy a private launch (from on-board).

~~~
drgath
I was on the checkout page to book a flight for the last launch, then
ultimately decided not to. I'd been wanting to see a Shuttle launch since I
was a kid, but I realized we're going to have a lot more launches. Sure they
won't be shuttles, but I'll be able to look at that launch and say "That's the
rocket that is taking people to Mars." Not "That's the rocket that is going to
take a shipment of astronaut ice cream up to the IIS and bring back bags of
space poop for disposal."

And when you look at the Ares V rocket. OMG, watching that take off is going
to be sick!

Size comparison:
[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_A7wB2gcr8lA/TAU3evWPPSI/AAAAAAAAIE...](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_A7wB2gcr8lA/TAU3evWPPSI/AAAAAAAAIEw/PJeIEh96ey0/s1600/Maximum_payload.png)

So don't be too bummed, you'll be able to see lots of great launches in your
lifetime.

~~~
Hoff
"However, the Constellation program, including Ares V was canceled in October
2010 by the passage of the 2010 NASA authorization bill."

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soulbow
Living in Florida, I've been fortunate enough to see a few shuttle launches,
as well as various rockets. The sound is really an incredible thing. I watched
the last one from the bridge stretching from Titusville to the Kennedy Space
Center, about the closest one can get without needing a pass. At that
distance, the sound takes around 30 seconds to reach the viewers and it's not
even that loud, but you can feel the power behind it.

Even more impressive, I watched STS-131 from my hometown one morning. Even
from the West Coast of Florida, I could hear the unique sound and power from
the shuttle.

I drove around 400 miles round trip to see the last Shuttle Launch, but it was
completely worth it to see, in person, humans going into space. If every
member of Congress could experience that at least once, NASA would likely not
have any more funding problems.

~~~
Ronkdar
I'm jealous. For the last three years, living in Daytona, I've vowed I would
drop everything to see the very last launch. And then they extended the
program, and the launch was in the summer while I was out of state.

~~~
soulbow
My plan for the last one was to go to Daytona since I figured the traffic
would be horrible in Titusville and the Shuttle takes off to the north anyway.
I ended up driving South until I hit traffic, which happened to be extremely
close to the launch. I live out of state most of the year, so I was happy to
hear the last launch would be during the Summer.

Though it wouldn't have worked well on the last launch due to the clouds, I'm
sure there's other launches you could have seen from Daytona.

Another anecdote: The first launch I saw when I was a little kid, probably
seven years old. I was riding in the back seat of my mom's car and happened to
look out the back window. When I looked back, I saw the a fireball rising into
the sky, which of course was the shuttle.

Also, about two years ago, I was driving home with my girlfriend one night and
we saw a star which seemed to be moving higher into the sky. Suddenly, it
disappeared. I couldn't find any mention of rocket launches until, after
extensive searching, it turned out to be a secret CIA satellite.

~~~
djjose
After years putting it off I finally drove up in the wee hours from Miami for
the last launch and caught it on the same bridge (Max Brewer Bridge) mentioned
earlier. Small world! It only took 3 hours to make it up which just led me to
regret not making more trips up for it. It was truly spectacular, and the nerd
in me nearly jumped out of my skin!

------
yanowitz
As the last Space Shuttle flight flew, I remembered this essay as well. I
never saw a launch live, unfortunately. But 14 years later, this writing has
stuck with me. Others have also written about the experience, but none (that
I've seen) is quite as vivid. Unsolicited but related trivia: in Jay Barbree's
"Live from Cape Canaveral", he mentions that the SS blast offs were more
impressive than the Saturn V, which I found surprising, since the Saturn V
could lift more.

~~~
Ronkdar
Those booster rockets on the shuttle were ridiculous. The Saturns were before
my time, but I've seen some Delta launches, and an Ares launch, and the
shuttle put them TO SHAME.

One thing I will remember most about going to college near KSC will be
watching shuttle launches. I don't think there is anything on this world that
is more impressive than putting our people into space on a pillar of fire.

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rglover
I recall a family vacation when I was younger, driving down the Florida coast;
my dad screaming (not a bad scream, but a hurried, excited, educated scream).
He kept asking my brother and I in the back seat if we wanted to see the
astronauts go into space. Circa 12 years old, _you fucking bet we did_. We
tried to find a good spot, but unfortunately, weren't able to (the launch was
also cancelled that day for a reason I can't remember).

I'm fairly happy to know that my parents tried to show this to my brother and
I. After reading this account, I can say that at some point in my life, I'd
like to see humans going into space.

It may be cheesy, but this just set a wonderful tone for my weekend.

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JunkDNA
Thanks for sharing. Despite being a P&T fan for years I had never read that
before.

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drinian
_I think government needs to use tax money for “police, courts, and defense”
and that’s it. If I were king of the world, there wouldn’t be a king of the
world and NASA would be private. But who cares what I think? We have NASA and
they do the coolest things. It can’t be justified with Tang and Crazy Glue.
Exploration of space is worth it because humans need to explore._

Cognitive dissonance much?

~~~
nkassis
I was thinking the same thing. To help him out NASA could be called defense
spendings (alien invasion ;p) and there is also DARPA the two most useful
agencies I know off both had an impact on space exploration.

~~~
tomlin
I just went to see P&T a few days ago. Always loved their show and their
insight as it definitely makes me think.

For a while, I considered myself a Libertarian, but there were too many
conflicts with my own sensibilities (gun control, regulation, etc). I just
couldn't ignore the obvious lapse in judgement to make the Libertarian model
_work_.

I still respect P&T, but after listening to Penn rant about de-regulation of
markets (Libertarian viewpoint), then seeing it happen (and fall apart), I
couldn't continue the one-size-fits-all thought process.

Penn became more quiet about the subject than his tight-lipped partner,
Teller. Cognitive dissonance indeed.

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jmagar
I took my two boys to a launch because I knew the end was near. STS-125 the
first and last time two shuttles were prepped to launch at the same time:
Hubble makes the ISS unreachable if a problem occurs. (The second shuttle was
the rescue plan since they couldn't get to the reentry vehicle parked at the
ISS.)

Yes, I cried like a little girl.

Good times.

~~~
drgath
TIL about STS-400. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-400>

Seeing the Shuttles next to one another is pretty awesome.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Space_shuttles_Atlantis_%2...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Space_shuttles_Atlantis_%28STS-125%29_and_Endeavour_%28STS-400%29_on_launch_pads_again.jpg)

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spullara
I took my 5 year old daughter to STS-132. Tried to get tickets to it on the
website and failed to ever get in. Bought 2 tickets for the closest (non-VIP)
public viewing area with no parking and 2 tickets + parking for the second
closest off eBay. Ended up getting to invite my Dad and his cousin to view
from there. It takes a patient 5 year old to get through a hot day and wait
hours to watch a 5 minute event. She made it though without even much fuss.
Thankfully, it went off just 30 minutes late due to a screw they found rolling
around in the cargo bay. When it finally did launch, she was ecstatic and
loudly proclaimed: "It is building a pile of steam!"
[http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=32354567%40N00&q=sts&...](http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=32354567%40N00&q=sts&m=text)

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ianferrel
The magnitude of experience pales in comparison to the shuttle launch, but
I've always been glad I got to see the X-Prize winning SpaceShipOne launch.

If Florida were closer than Mojave, I'd have loved to see the shuttle, too.

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specialist
I've seen Penn & Teller live. Fucking great. Really amazing. I was a huge fan.
Even bought their first book.

Then they came out as anthropocentric climate change deniers. Plus, their
cable show "Bullshit" was little more than Leno's Jaywalking, only meaner.

So I had to flip the bozo bit on them. Meaning I've lumped them in with the
neocons, creationists, libertarians, homophobes, 9/11 truthers, and other
antisocial fruitcakes.

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ANH
I was able to see two shuttle launches at KSC: a night launch and John Glenn's
return to space. The comedic timing also works from the non-VIP viewing area
there. Just as you're starting to furrow your brow and wonder if some
acoustical law hasn't been violated, you hear/feel this rumbling that starts
low and quickly builds to an extended crackling locomotive of noise. It's
impossible not to get giddy about it.

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peterwwillis
tl;dr

 _"The NASA definition of comedy timing is the difference between the speed of
light and the speed of sound over a distance of 3.7 miles. The speed of light
is 186,000 miles per second (I knew that off the top of my head). The speed of
sound is 1,116 feet per second (I had to look that up). With the two traveling
over 3.7 miles that’s 17.505 seconds."_

~~~
toast76
"we call it 'the aristocrats'!"

See...doesn't have the same impact when you just tell the punch line.

The piece which was tl;dr for you was one of the most uplifting and inspiring
stories I've ever read about watching a Shuttle launch, and you want distil it
down to a punch line? Talk about missing the point!

~~~
daeken
While I wholly agree with you and respect this point, I actually laughed out
loud at your opening line; sometimes if you know the joke already, it's
hilarious when the punchline is used to drive home a point.

