keeping us in line with their fire hoses billy clubswhile the rich get richer and we have hard lives?
People falling from great heights have survived, typically occupants jumping from aircraft with a failed parachute or without a parachute hac ve survived if they fall into deep snow, or crash into a tree, the branches of which snap off slowing then down in a similar way to the silly suggestion about people jumping up at intervals to slow the rate of fall. I watched a deliberate jump from an aircraft video on Youtube a little while ago. The jumper did slow himself down by using skydiving techniques, and flew into a huge stack of cardboard boxes. There were incidents in wartime where occupants of crashing planes survived by hitting deep snow drifts, but that was just luck. I also remember a true story film made about a young girl who was aboard an aircraft that exploded above the rain forests. She fell to the ground still strapped in the aircraft seat, and her impact was lessened by entering the trees as mentioned, with some protection from the seat. She sustained some injuries, but was lost in the jungle, was able to feed and get water, and luckily was able to contact people many days later. She had maggots in her wounds, which played a part in keeping her alive with her injuries. She also, was very lucky, if not lucky that the plane came apart in the first place. She was the sole survivor.
I also built a desk out of 2 plastic sewer pipe fittings plus a sheet of plywood and it served me well thru 9 years of university. The trick to making it sturdy is those cool Y T L fittings. Remember, it's triangles that make stuff rigid. Use 4 L-fittings i.e. 90 degree elbows and pipe to make a rectangle to fit the desk top. Cut the rectangle apart so you can insert four T fittings in the long sides for legs. Cut it again so you can insert two Y fittings about 12 inboard from the back legs. Experiment a little so you can run support pipes at an angle from the Y fittings at the back down to intersect with Y fittings in the back legs. Cut again so you can insert two Y fittings about 12 back of the front legs. Experiment a little so you can run support pipes at an angle from the Y fittings on the sides down to intersect with Y fittings in the front legs. Secure the 3/4 plywood top to the frame with eight 3 1/2 - 4 carriage bolts thru the top and thru the horizontal support pipe, secured with washers and nuts on the bottom. Don't skimp on the bolts; you need 'em all to make this thing totally integrated. Once the top is bolted onto the frame, it makes a solid, good looking desk. Buy some oak edge-trim that you put on the edge of the desktop with a clothes-iron. Touch it up with some fine sandpaper. Add 2 -3 coats of high-gloss urethane finish and you've got a desk that will last foreever. (hey, I'm 45 and still use mine at the cottage) One last tip: dry fit the whole frame and get it the way you want it before you glue anything. Then glue small sections at a time.
