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What Took So Long

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Eons ago, Zork stood outside his cave and watched a vulture spread his wings and soar off a cliff. Zork decided to try this himself. Too late, he realized that his lift to drag ratio was about zero - no lift and lots of drag - and he had the glide ratio of a brick. Zork's decedents gave up on aviation for 50,000 years.

Since humans first looked up at birds in flight, we have been trying to fly like them, often with painful or even fatal consequences. Even with the technology available today, we are just beginning to be able to apply some of the technology that has existed in birds for, oh, 150 million years, such as variable geometry wings, vectored thrust, and fly-by-wire.

To accomplish sustained flight, an object must have some means of generating lift. In airplanes, this is done by moving an airfoil shape through the air with some means of propulsion. The amount of lift generated is a function of the airfoil shape, the angle at which the airfoil encounters the air stream, and the speed at which the airfoil moves through the air.

Birds, however, have combined their lift generating and thrust producing functions into one assembly - the wings. Early observers believed that birds simply flapped their wings up and down, and that bird-like flight could be duplicated by simply flapping their arms vigorously - like Zork - or by building some kind of contraption that flapped its wings. They assumed that if a bird flew by flapping its wings, that they could too by duplicating the motion. However, they failed to understand how a bird actually flies and how much energy it would take. So "flapping" never got off the ground. Sorry about that.

Even the great Leonardo DaVinci spent many years working on totally impractical ornithopters (flapping wing) aircraft, in part because he, too, failed to understand how birds flew.

Birds fly by "flapping" their wings, true, but the actual motion and physics are much more complex. As a bird's wing moves down, the feathers also rotate downward automatically. Air is pushed to the rear (thrust) and lift is generated on the top surface. As the wing transitions to move upward, the feathers rotate in the opposite direction, producing thrust from the top surface of the wing and lift. Think of their wings as a propeller that goes 180 degrees then reverses.

Toward the end of his life, Leonardo did design a device that used a rotating screw-like structure. Igor Sikorsky, it is said, was inspired by Leonardo's work to become a world leader in helicopter development. It's worth noting that helicopter blades and propellers are really a form of screw, so Leonardo was not far off on that one. He also designed a glider which could be turned by the pilot shifting his weight, foretelling the hang glider.

Leonardo - and Zork - also failed to understand how much energy is required to take off and sustain flight. Aircraft - and birds - must generate more lift than they weigh just in order to take off. This requires the development of several enabling technologies.

The first is a light flying structure that can support its own weight while in the air. Many early craft could not. Birds have a very light structure (Thanksgiving Turkeys not withstanding) and extremely powerful muscles to power their wings. A voracious appetite for high-energy foods provides the power.

A second enabling technology was the development of an internal combustion engine that was light, yet produced enough power to move the machine fast enough to generate lift greater than weight. And higher performing engines could not be developed until higher octane fuels became available.

To illustrate the problem, the Wright Brothers' 1903 Flyer weighed 605 pounds without a pilot, and had a 12 horsepower engine. With a pilot, that's over 60 pounds per horsepower. The Cessna 172, a popular, but hardly spectacular performer, runs about ten pounds per horsepower.

But getting airborne and staying there are two different things. Whether bird or machine, a flying object must be controllable or it simply falls out of the sky. A future article will look at stability and controllability.

Bottom line - we have learned a lot from birds about flying. It just took 150 million years.

What Took So Long

Audiobooks suddenly seem to have become one of the next "Internet big things" In the last year we've seen a growing number of publishers, titles & websites selling downloadable audio books for MP3, ipod and to burn to CDs. Because of this you might think they're a recent invention, but you'd be mistaken. They're not and have been around for a lot longer than you might think.

What you'll read:

* When do you think audiobooks started? * Why are audiobooks so popular now? * So when were audiobooks "invented" * Who were the first audio book publishers? * The 3 reasons why audiobooks have exploded. * Where to find "original" audiobooks

* When do you think audiobooks started?: Do audiobooks seem pretty recent to you? I can just about remember "the first" audiobooks on cassette being around in the mid 80s. Then again I'm really old so maybe your first memory is more recent!

I recall some really huge box sets for things like lord of the Rings (sold on ebay...wish I hadn't!) and they were abridged (abridged means significantly cut in length for whatever reason)

Since then there's been an explosion in the audiobook market. For millions of people, along with mp3 music, the audiobook has become iconic of the Internet age of enlightenment and information flexibility!

* Why are audiobooks so popular now?: Using myself as an example: Once I realized just how good they were for certain things there was no stopping me -

* They're excellent for learning. Be it business, motivation, or in my own case right now, learning Swedish (audiobooks are brilliant for language training).

* They're great for kids learning to by all accounts but I can't give you my own experience there as I'm 36!

* Great for pleasure "reading! For fiction when normal books would be impossible, (e.g., in the dark or when driving or working out) or you just want the book pushed "into" you rather than having to absorb though your eyes.

* So when were audiobooks "invented": Around the early 1980s maybe? No.

With the current focus on audiobook CDs, DVD, downloadable WMA, MP3s, iPods etc you may think they're very recent. But you'd be wrong. Audiobooks started a long time ago.

To understand this it's important to define exactly what an audio book is.

* Basically audio books are simply books that are recorded to be heard, instead of read.

* So have they been around for as long as recording has been possible?

Not quite. To be more specific, it's safe to say they were first introduced just over 50 years ago. That is in terms of being available outside of professional broadcasting circles.

* Who were the first audio book publishers?: Robin Whitten, the editor and founder of the only magazine which is dedicated solely to the audio book industry credits Caedmon (now a subsidiary of Harper Collins Publishers) as having started recordings of literature as far back as 50 years ago.

He tells us that Caedmon, at that time a small company in New York, started recording the audio of great authors and poets of the 1950s. Specifically, he said some of the earliest recordings were by greats such as Dylan Thomas, T.S. Eliot, Fitzgerald and Robert Frost.

At this time they were simply recorded while doing their own works and made as vinyl records. Not exactly great for jogging but these early recordings can arguably be defined as the first collection of audio books.

However, the transition of these book recordings into audiocassette tapes didn't happen until the late 1970s up to the 1980s when we see the market size, first in audio cassette, growing until accepted by the more "sophisticated" early adopter profile consumer.

The audio book phenomenon though didn't really kick off until the mid to late 1990s.

* The 3 reasons why audiobooks have exploded:

Not surprisingly, as with so many technology related products:

1) Ease of use/Quality: Vinyl - Limited on use. Try playing one in a commuter train or while driving. Err no. Oops scratched it, damn it's ruined etc.

Tape cassettes - Total pain, limited storage and they self destructed with alarming regularity.

Early portable CD players as well as expensive were not that portable ? If you ever tried working out or jogging with one you'll know what I mean!

Now with mp3 players & ipods there are no moving parts so you can listen when working out, running or anything else where a CD player would be useless. You can even get mp3 players built into sunglasses (Oakley) that are designed specifically for hardcore sports training!

2) Cost: Early CD players and later, MP3 players were very expensive. Car CD units, wow they really did cost a lot!

But now CD players of all types and MP3 players have become so cheap that the hardware cost barrier has disappeared.

3) Ease of "Delivery" With broadband internet becoming the norm it has become super easy to get audiobooks "anytime ?anyplace ? anywhere" 100 meg download, no problem!

* Where to find "original" audiobooks: And if you want original audiobooks ? Can you get them? If you are still interested in "going back in time" you can get the original book recordings that started this audio book industry.

Some of those early 1950s analog recordings by Caedmon which were performed by the greats of those days can be bought online.

You can find that classic you have always dreamt of in audio book format if you search hard enough on the Internet where you'll find audiobooks of a size, quality and sophistication that would have been seen as science fiction even 15 years ago!

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About Author

Both Janet Winter & Nick Moseley are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Janet Winter has sinced written about articles on various topics from Dogs, Culture and Fishing. Janet Winter is a web designer, owner of three e-commerce sites, and writer on many topics including wild birds, dogs, babies, the Internet and travel. Her e-commerce sites are:. Janet Winter's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.

Nick Moseley has sinced written about articles on various topics from Audio Books, Cruises and Dog Care. Nick shares time between the UK & Sweden where he lives with his fianc? Lena & goes fishing (not as much as he wants!) He runs a 6000+ title dow. Nick Moseley's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.

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